Further to my recent updates on the Tourism Industry UK Sector Deal bid, I have now received the draft Connectivity paper which can be accessed below. I am gratified to find that a good number of the initial concerns around lack of reference to domestic tourism, destination management’s roles, tourism as a redistributor of wealth etc. that I raised at the group meeting have now been reflected in the new draft, albeit necessarily briefly.

We do need to be mindful that the work of the four separate groups will now be combined to produce a single bid document based, in all likelihood, around a small number of selected major asks. Some of these useful references made in the connectivity paper on matters close to our hearts are likely to become slightly obscured in the bid’s background papers, or even lost entirely. However, nothing ventured, nothing gained and there will be opportunities to highlight issues again during the ongoing drafting process.

If you have any comments or suggested amendments or additions please let me know before the end of this week (this and other groups are working to very tight deadlines).